Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly butter three 8-inch-diameter cake pans with 2-inch-high sides; dust pans with flour. Combine cake flour, baking soda, baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt in medium bowl. Mix mashed bananas, buttermilk and 1 teaspoon vanilla in another medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat 1/2 cup butter and sugar in large bowl until blended. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating to blend after each addition. Add dry ingredients alternately with banana mixture in 3 additions, beginning and ending with dry ingredients and beating just until blended after each addition. Divide batter equally among prepared pans.

Bake cakes until tops are just beginning to color and tester inserted into center comes out with a few crumbs attached, about 20 minutes. Cool cakes in pans on racks 10 minutes. Using small knife, cut around cakes to loosen; turn cakes out onto racks and cool completely.

Beat cream cheese and remaining 1 cup butter in large bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in remaining 1 tablespoon vanilla and pinch of salt. Gradually beat in powdered sugar. Cover and refrigerate frosting until firm enough to spread, about 15 minutes.

Place 1 cake layer on platter. Spread 1/2 cup frosting over top. Place half of sliced bananas evenly over frosting, leaving 1/4-inch border at edge. Place second cake layer on work surface. Spread 1/4 cup frosting over top. Place cake layer, frosting side down, atop bananas. Spread 1/2 cup frosting over top. Place remaining half of sliced bananas evenly over frosting, leaving 1/4-inch border at edge. Place third cake layer on work surface. Spread 1/4 cup frosting over top. Place cake layer, frosting side down, atop bananas. Spread remaining frosting over sides and top of cake. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill. Let stand 1 hour at room temperature before serving.)

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Reviews

Excellent! A crowd pleaser for young and old, and pretty straightforward to pull off. I lined Nilla Wafers around the base and top to decorate and it gave a nice crunch component. Can't go wrong with bananas, cream cheese, and Nilla Wafers.

Excellent! A crowd pleaser for young and old, and pretty straightforward to pull off. I lined Nilla Wafers around the base and top to decorate and it gave a nice crunch component. Can't go wrong with bananas, cream cheese, and Nilla Wafers.

Excellent! A crowd pleaser for young and old, and pretty straightforward to pull off. I lined Nilla Wafers around the base and top to decorate and it gave a nice crunch component. Can't go wrong with bananas, cream cheese, and Nilla Wafers.

Excellent! A crowd pleaser for young and old, and pretty straightforward to pull off. I lined Nilla Wafers around the base and top to decorate and it gave a nice crunch component. Can't go wrong with bananas, cream cheese, and Nilla Wafers.

I have made this cake a dozen times over the years and it comes out amazing every time. If you follow the directions exactly, let your ingredients come to room temperature, always line your cake pans with parchment, it will result in a wonderfully tender cake that is not to sweet and absolutely luscious. There is plenty of frosting to ice the entire cake just as instructed. There is no need to change anything about this recipe. Just follow the directions, down to the shape of the pan and size. For maximum flavor, really ripe bananas are a must.

Not impressed. I followed the directions. I am a skilled baker. I got my pastry diploma from Cordon Bleu. I hv been looking for a good banana cake recipe. Epicurious is usually good. This was not. I had my doubts when it said three pans. The batter looked short. I should have gone with my gut and done just 2. Also the recipe says bake for 18 minutes. No way!!!! I baked for 13 minutes and I should have pulled out at 12. Also I greased pan really well and used flour. Again, I should have gone with my gut and used parchment. The cakes stuck to the pan!!!! Also the frosting measurement is not good and not enough!!! Should be equal amount of butter to cream cheese and 8 cups of frosting. Better to hv more frosting. Who are they kidding?

I'm not getting all the rave reviews on this cake. I followed the recipe exactly except that I added an extra mashed banana, as many reviewers recommended. The cake did not rise very much, and, although I baked it for under the recommended time, I found it dry. I thought the frosting was OK but lacking a really rich cream cheese taste. I have often used a Martha Stewart banana cake recipe, and I'll go back to that one.

This is it - THE banana cake: gorgeously moist, wonderfully banana-y, rich but not sickeningly sweet. And easy to make as well (although beware the slightly confusing instructions - the butter and vanilla are meant for both the cake and the frosting). Like other posters, I made two layers in 9" cake pans and used about a quarter cup more banana, but kept everything else exactly the same. Cake flour is unavailable in the EU, but I used Italian 00 flour with perfect results.

Needed a low sugar cake and made this with very lightly sweetened vanilla whipped cream instead of the frosting. Layered the cake with freshly sliced (firmer) bananas and whipped cream, then drizzled with a scant Tbl of fleur de sel caramel sauce. The usually finicky 1 year old birthday boy dove right in!

This cake is DE-LISH!! I've made it several times now and it always comes out perfect. Like others I use three VERY ripe bananas. Have varied frosting and filings (chocolate, caramel icings, pecans, walnuts, coconut - you name it). Moist and flavorful every time!

Oh my goodness - this is a wonderful cake!! I followed the recipe except used more banana (1 1/2 cups) - My husband described it best - it's like eating banana pudding (but even better if that's even possible!) Made this for a friend for her birthday - and didn't even think I liked Banana Cake - I'm a convert - Also - I was a little dubious about slicing the banana between the layers - I'm so glad I tried it - just adds more flavor - Also - I cut the sugar in the icing back by about 1/2 cup and toasted some pecans to sprinkle on the top - This is a keeper!!

I increase the recipe by half again, as what's there is really not enough to yield 3 good layers. For the cream cheese frosting, I use 3 8 oz packs of Philly Cream cheese, 11/2 sticks butter and about 1 1/2 - 1 3/4 C confectioners sugar plus about 2 tsp high quality vanilla. I don't like it too sweet.
I've embellished the recipe by topping each layer with toasted coconut and a pecan/walnut mixture that I've rolled in salt, butter, honey and sugar then toasted for 10 minutes in the oven. They add a nice sweet/salty flavor balance and a wonderful texture to the cake.
I serve it as a "stacked" cake... frosting only inbetween the layers, but not the sides.
Finally, to geld the lily even further, I serve it with a hard caramel sauce of some sort. The last time, I happened to have some bananas foster sauce left over, so I used that.... this time, I'll make a brandied or rum caramel sauce with sugar, butter and rum.
As you can see, the recipe offers great flexibility. Most importantly, the foundation cake is delicious! All guests loved it!

I made this for a birthday party recently and several people told me it was the best cake they'd ever had. I used three bananas and two 8" cake pans (plus a couple of cupcakes for me to keep). The cake pans took about 25 minutes to fully bake through (cupcakes I took out around 20 minutes in). Kept in the fridge overnight and was moist and fresh-tasting the next night.
I didn't use this frosting, btw--used the coconut cream cheese frosting from the Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting recipe also on this site.

REALLY ripe bananas give superb flavor,
but I found that I needed THREE mashed
bananas to equal one cup.
A sprinkle of walnuts on top gives a
finished presentation. You won't regret
a little scoop of ice cream on the
side, either.:)
I have made this layered delight twice.
YUMMY!!!!